The NFL and organizers of the Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium continue to openly root for snow on the big day (a snowflake is even part of the game’s official logo), and it’s easy to see why after Sunday.
People love to watch games played in the snow. Players and coaches might not like it, and it certainly isn’t pleasant for fans with tickets, but the NFL isn’t about that anymore.
No, the NFL is now almost 100 percent a made-for-TV sport — and nothing attracts instant national buzz, juices ratings and creates lasting memories like a snow game.
Not only that, but four of the five snow-bound games Sunday showed snow doesn’t necessarily equal bad football.
— The Eagles’ 34-20 win over the Lions in Philadelphia was rough for a half because of the blizzard-like conditions, but players on both sides eventually adapted and 46 points were scored in the second half. And admit it, those shots of Calvin Johnson with a face full of snow after a catch were a delight.
— Then there was the Vikings-Ravens slugfest in the snow in Baltimore, which featured one of the most frantic and entertaining finishes in NFL history with a record five touchdowns and five lead changes in the final 125 seconds of the Ravens’ 29-26 victory.
“Do you believe in miracles?” Ravens wideout Jimmy Smith screamed to reporters as he walked off the field.
— Meanwhile, a snow game in Pittsburgh was decided by inches on the Steelers’ final play of a 34-28 loss to the Dolphins (no problem scoring points there, either), and snow and ice in Green Bay didn’t make the Packers’ 22-21 win over the Falcons any less entertaining.
Barring an apocalyptic blizzard in the Meadowlands on Feb. 2, Sunday just offered more evidence that fears about holding an outdoor Super Bowl in the Northeast are going to end up being overblown.
Football is in the entertainment business, and what’s more entertaining than a snow game?
Defense rests during made-for-TV touchdown specials
A whopping 90 touchdowns were scored Sunday, marking the most in any one day in the NFL’s nearly 100-year history. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing for the league depends on your perspective.
TV executives were no doubt ecstatic, because viewers like to see points and more TDs equal more commercial breaks. But defensive players and defensive coaches have to be ready to throw up their hands at a league that is making their jobs practically impossible.
From the near-total crackdown on downfield contact with receivers to defenders being given an increasingly tiny “strike zone” where they are allowed to legally hit opponents, the NFL’s rush to becoming flag football in the eyes of its critics looked almost complete Sunday.
Just ask Browns safety T.J. Ward, who is facing criticism for the low but legal (for now) hit he delivered on the Patriots’ Rob Gronkowski that tore multiple knee ligaments and ended Gronkowski’s season.
“If I would’ve hit him up high, there’s a chance I was going to get a fine,” Ward told reporters after the game.
Sunday wasn’t a good advertisement for the quality of special teams being played and coached around the league, either.
A whopping five returns went for touchdowns, including three kickoff returns. The Chiefs had two of those return TDs, with Quintin Demps taking a kickoff 95 yards to the house and Dexter McCluster later doing the same thing with a punt from 74 yards in a 45-10 rout of the Redskins.
Demps told Fox Sports the weather the rest of the way could make for more days filled with return TDs.
“It’s cold outside, and nobody wants to tackle,” he said.
Music to a TV executive’s ears.